Grab ‘em by their hate! – Transphobia in the media.

How can we fight austerity if we do not even recognise the sex of a person?

It is common that the media report certain rises in trends when there is celebrity that raises concerns about it. Usually they are about healthier diets. But within the last year there have been two significant developments in the war for gender equality. Weinstein, Dr Nassar and a number of probable rapists, like literally 100% certain but just in case this comes back to sting me because after all we have to understand that every allegation must be seen with respect, have been found out due to the courageous women and men who decided that the monster’s should pay. The infamous #MeToo has been used to show solidarity of victims and shed light on the obvious misogyny which still dominates society. With the ‘President’s Club’ scandal that has popped up within the last week its clear to see that over the course of the near future more and more victims are going to show the middle finger to harassers.

I could obviously go on in so much more detail, which this case deserves, but there are many allies and victims who are shedding light on this issue, and very few discussing the issue of the transphobia report by Stonewall.

The report is saddening. The battles for LGB and women’s rights are far from over, but it seems like the fight for the remaining T has barely begun. The only Act of Parliament which discusses rights of transgender people is the Gender Recognition Act 2004. Should we throw a party that we passed this act over a decade ago? Not really, more of raise a glass in homage. This is due to the fact that the legislation enable only a few transgender people to be recognised. This was in itself based upon the grounds that being transgender meant that you had a… wait for it… mental illness. So this act quite obviously needs reform, even if its intentions were nice.

Transphobia can be found everywhere, even if you address the person by the wrong gender pronoun. Queue the lib-tards snowflake siren going off again; but what needs to be understood is the fact that after all of the struggles this transgender person has gone through, a little comment such as that could send them into a pit of anxiety and isolation from who they really are again. The effect of this can be seen in an interview, within the Stonewall report, with Willow who stated that such things were causing her “acute anxiety in my daily life.” It is vitally important therefore that these issues are spoken about in the media, so to raise awareness. 34% of transgender people have been discriminated against in cafes and bars, but most worryingly 44% avoid certain streets due to past experiences of harassment. Nearly half of transgender people have to reroute their walk into town from fear of being harassed. How can any sane person not get angry at this? It is just a shame that not every feminist, nor everyone in the LGB community, refrains from transphobia.

There’s been a lot of people ousting transphobes on twitter over the last couple of days, which in itself is beautiful. One of the most surprising findings when researching is the transphobia apparent in the Labour party. Now this is not because I am a clear advocate for the party, it is because they were the ones who implemented the legislation back in 2004, as well as civil partnerships. The party has a long and positive relationship with minorities, yet people like Jennifer James let down the side. The party member started a campaign to block all transgender women from all female shortlists. James argues that her suspension was due to the fact that they couldn’t suspend her for her ‘socialism.’ The fact that she does not realise that the party is a socialist party is worrying in itself. She later goes on to state how there is a ‘class war’ and that that is why she was gotten rid of, which actually makes sense because there is a class war, what she will probably never realise is that she is not a victim of that war but actually a transphobe. It’s like the picture Katy Hopkins tweeted with the target on her head claiming ‘this is what it feels like to be a conservative women.’ Stop suggesting like you are the victim when you are quite clearly the protagonist here!

The irony and contradiction in James’ message is terrifying. I cannot believe that after the revelations since the Saville case on misogyny and sexual harassment that any woman is unwilling to stand shoulder to shoulder to other women; especially after they stood up with you. In addition, that people from the LGB community not recognising that these people have gone through exactly the same struggles as you have, in some cases even more as they had to tell everyone their gender and sometimes their sexuality. These people have fallen victim to the same antagonists that we all have. Like my call for the progressive parties to stand together against austerity, women and the LGBT community need to stand together against harassment and a violation of rights.

Grab ‘em by their hate!

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Published by hjamesweb

Young Progressively minded student. I play for an inclusive rugby team in Swansea where I attend University. I am currently studying Medieval studies at BA level, hopefully will be moving onto MA. Supporter of Labour, Plaid, SNP and Green.
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